


In the Air

by ssyou



Category: Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, his soul wandering, jung family - Freeform, not too angsty actually, pacaponyo will happen on the next chapter i promise, sewoon is in a coma, starship ceo, there will be humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 14:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12608988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssyou/pseuds/ssyou
Summary: But his mom still couldn’t hear him. No matter that he prayed hard enough, wished hard enough, called her hard enough for the third time, tenth time, twentieth time until his invisible lungs gave out.





	In the Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beep of the machine was the only steady thing that mid morning.

When Sewoon opened his eyes, it was to a room in white. He didn’t have recollection of what happened before, nor how he got there. But his body felt light like a wind. There was a window on his left side, a boring wall in front of him and a door on his right. He stopped his stare at the door and found silhouettes of two people talking outside. A man. And a woman. The shape of the woman’s head looked familiar. Mom. Where is this? What’s she doing?

Just then, his mom went into the white room he was in. He didn’t know where the other man disappeared to, didn’t have the time to guess or think because his thought came to a halt when he saw his mom’s face. Mom’s eyes were wet. They were swollen and she was having a quiet sob like she was crying. Her hand held what looked like a damp tissue, eyebrows knitted and the corner of her mouth went down.

She had been crying.

She was crying.

God, no.

Sewoon held back a curse to call and approach his mom instead. His mind raced a mile a minute trying to figure out what or who made her mom shed tears (he would punch them in the face, guitarist hand be damned). It was just two steps toward her when he realized that she turned away from him. Nonetheless he still took the third step, only to realize she had been staring hard into something on his right.

Or rather, someone.

His breath was knocked out of him, when he turned to see what his mom was seeing. He felt his invisible heart pounding hard, the room (or his body, maybe) suddenly felt cold and his head dizzy. There was a boy lying on a bed. There were tubes connecting to his body and a machine which monitored the boy’s heart. He didn’t know how he couldn’t hear the steady beep before, but that wasn’t important. This here must be a hospital room. And there, lying on the bed, wearing hospital gown with bruises on his hands and neck, was one and only Jung Sewoon.

He’d be damned.

 

-

 

The first thing he did after he got his mind right was looking at his hands and his feet. They seemed normal. He didn’t float and his body didn’t seem transparent. The clothes he wore, oddly, were clean white shirt and white slacks. From bits and pieces he could remember, he never owned these. It was one thing to wonder but he decided to move into the next important thing. He walked and stood in front of the bed, couldn’t help but stare at himself. There were minor cuts here and there, but it didn’t seem terrible. Except for the purple bruises. Ugh. Then he moved his stare to both of his hands. His fingers were still intact, Thank God. He tried the next step then, trying to touch his real body underneath the thick blanket. A slight shiver went through his invisible body before his hand went through his body like it weren’t something solid. Okay, so he couldn’t get in contact with the real things. Got it.

Sewoon walked toward his mom and stood beside her. She was sitting on a chair beside his real body. Her hand (soft, warm, kind) enclosed his, making light and small gestures on his palm like he was something breakable. She was still crying. God. Out of hopelessness, he was tempted to put his hand on her shoulder, or put his arms around her small body just to reassure her that her son was okay (he used to say that, ever since his trainee days). If he wished hard enough maybe it would come true, just like his dream. But God didn’t think so it seemed. Because this time again his hand went through his mom’s shoulder like it was nothing. Even in his second try, third try, fourth try. His eyes felt hot then. So he could cry too. The only thing he couldn’t do was the most important one. Great.

“Mom,” he tried calling her. It still seemed futile though. She didn’t give any sign that she heard him.

“Mom, I’m here,” he tried again. “I`m here, Mom, don’t cry,” again, because if there was one word to describe Jung Sewoon it would be perseverance.

But his mom still couldn’t hear him. No matter that he prayed hard enough, wished hard enough, called her hard enough for the third time, tenth time, twentieth time until his invisible lungs gave out. It was the first time in his life (ha, funny) that he felt the urge to curse out loud, upset at anything. His mom was crying for God’s sake. What kind of irresponsible son was he? Where the heck were his hyungs?

Just then someone opened the door. The sound of the door’s click felt like a music after the beeps of the heart monitor machine. His hope went up, maybe his hyungs finally came. They could give his mom real hugs, right?

So imagine his surprise when he saw his CEO walked into the room instead.

If not for his tired and haunted eyes, Sewoon would say his CEO looked as neat as always. He bowed to him out of habit before he caught himself.

His mom stood up and greeted his CEO out of courtesy. They bowed to each other then Shidae-sajangnim gestured to his mom to sit back again. He went to stand beside her so Sewoon decided to move toward the other side of the bed so he could see them clearly. His mom resumed her touches on his hand again. Strangely, the warmth he felt from seeing the action made it to his invisible heart.

“We are so sorry, Mrs. Jung,” Kim Shidae said softly, sternly, “It was our fault for being too careless. I am so sorry,”

Sewoon looked at his CEO’s face in wonder. All his life (ha) he never heard him say sorry or even saw him shed a tear or two. But the man now bowed his head as if in shame and apologized twice in a row. He was curious though of what happened and how he got himself here, in a stupid hospital with stupid gown and stupid beeping machine (it sounded like metronome, Sewoon didn’t want to think about it too hard because it reminded him of beats on ankle and a young guy with gorgeous smile).

His mom gave a tired nod and gripped his real hand harder.

“The doctor said he was stable for now, but they don’t know when he’s gonna wake up,” his mom replied shakily, trying to be strong as her Busan accent voice trembled toward the end. _They don’t know when he’s gonna wake up_. Sewoon already suspected it though, what was with soul leaving the body and all.

His CEO looked up then, seeing at his lying figure with hard expression. “The drunk driver is still at the police station. We’ll take care of everything. You can stay here as long as you can, Ma’am. We already booked hotel rooms across the hospital as well, so you and Sewoon’s brothers can take a rest. The manager Jinwoo will stay there too. If there’s anything you need, please tell him, or me, or anyone,” Shidae said calmly while still looking at him. “Sewoon is a strong boy. He will, he has to wake up,” his voice gave out a slight hitch, and he said the next words convincingly. “If there’s anything you wish, anything at all that we can help you with, just say the word.,”

This time her mom finally looked up at his CEO and gave a slight smile. “My son is a strong boy, of course he is. Thank you, Mr. Kim. As of now, I think I would like for the media to respect our privacy.”

Shidae gave a firm nod and put a reassurance hand on her shoulder.

“As you wish, Mrs. Jung.”

He bowed again and excused himself then, probably off to police station he had said before. Sewoon didn’t know what to think of the possibility of him getting into an accident by a drunk driver. He tried to remember how it happened and what he had been doing before, but his mind was still hazy and her mom continued her crying. Sewoon moved and hover his hand on her back then, on the distance it would take to touch her in reality. The only thing he asked right now was for her mom to stop crying. That was all.

That was all.

 

-

 

So from what he gathered, he had stayed late working on a song in the studio until 3 AM and decided to go home by a pick up service from the company, when a van driven by a drunk old man hit them from behind. Sewoon was on the surgery for five hours. There really was something beyond an appearance, because he found out that under the thick blanket that covered his body he looked terrible. The company driver was hospitalized as well, though he didn’t get into a coma like him. As for the drunk driver, out of miracle or something, were as fine as Sunday morning except for a twisted ankle. Of course after this he wouldn’t be so fine at all (DUI crime plus getting sued by a company as big as Starship can make a man really depressed).

Those were the information he got from a day in the hospital room, with his company staffs and the police circulating around, asking questions and taking notes of anything important. It seemed like he first opened his invisible eyes in the midmorning following the surgery and the time his family got to Seoul. Turned out his hyungs were sitting outside when his mom were talking with the CEO, because they came in with Gwanghyun when his CEO went out. His hyungs looked disheveled with dried tears on their eyes. Sewoon’s heart clenched when he remembered the last time he saw his hyungs cry. It was just three weeks ago, from making jokes and laughing too hard at his fansigns’ photos. They were taller than him, reliable, bigger but just as soft. Though right now Sewoon could clearly see the trembling hands and eyes that got teary when they saw their little brother’s lying figure on the bed, beaten and weak. They moved and stood beside and behind their mom, giving her pat and hug each one of them needed while Gwanghyun stopped at the feet of his bed instead. He stared at Sewoon’s real face unmovingly having the shock of his life.

Damn. Gwanghyun.

The poor boy looked even more terrible. It came to Sewoon then that Gwanghyun had this annoying habit of staying awake until he came home, even went so far as pretending not to read his text of telling him to go to sleep when Sewoon realized what time it was in the studio. He must be among the first to know. Sewoon didn’t want to imagine how his junior must feel when he got the news, that would be the umpteenth time he felt like hitting himself that day.

Upon seeing Gwanghyun, his mom smiled her motherly smile.

“Come here,” she asked him while standing up, giving the youngest in the room a chance to look at his hyung closer. Gwanghyun took it, before he suddenly burst into tears and gripped the edge of the mattress to hold himself.

“Hyung, Sewoon-hyung,” he chanted,

“Sewoon-hyung,” he pleaded, he sobbed hard. Sungwoon-hyung hugged him then, burying Gwanghyun’s face on his chest and cradle his long fingers on his head. "He'll be okay, he'll be okay," he murmured the words like a prayer. His mom helped by moving her hand on the youngest’s back (soft, warm, kind) up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

The beep of the machine was the only steady thing that mid morning.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbetaed. i gotta recheck it later on..  
> youngdong will visit him on the next chapter~


End file.
